Custom Program Team

When organizations ask for custom programs, Dr. Robin organizes and manages a faculty dream team. Depending on the customer’s needs and topics, the team may include:

STACY BLAKE-BEARD, PH.D.
Dr. Blake-Beard’s research focuses on the challenges and opportunities offered by mentoring relationships, with a focus on how these relationships may be changing as a result of increasing workforce diversity. She is particularly interested in the issues women face as they develop mentoring relationships. She studies the dynamics of formal mentoring programs in both corporate and educational settings. Stacy Blake-Beard is a Professor of Management at the Simmons School of Management where she teaches Organizational Behavior. She is also Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Gender in Organizations at Simmons and Visiting Faculty at the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. Prior to joining Simmons, Dr. Blake-Beard was faculty at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education. She has also worked in sales and marketing at Procter & Gamble and in the corporate human resource department at Xerox. Dr. Blake-Beard holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Maryland at College Park and an MA and a Ph.D. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan. Dr. Blake-Beard has published research on gender, diversity, and mentoring. She has given seminars for and consulted on a wide range of topics, including effectively leveraging diversity, implementing formal mentoring programs, gender and leadership, bystander awareness training, unconscious bias, managing visibility, career action planning and team-building.

DONNA MARIA BLANCERO, PH.D.
Donna Maria Blancero received her PhD from Cornell University and is the Dean of the Business school at Bentley University. She is the founding editor for The Business Journal of Hispanic Research. Prior to Bentley, she was the Senior Vice President of Research and Intellectual Development for NSHMBA. Donna has been a NSHMBA member since 1992 and served for ten years on the National Board of Directors, including two terms as Chairman of the Board and was also on the Board of Directors for the National Hispanic Employee Association. Currently she serves on the Board of Directors for the Alzheimer’s Association in the NY Hudson Valley area. She is also a Fellow of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Donna was co-author of the “Hired for Diversity, Retained for Conformity.” She is one of the foremost researchers and has significant insights into Latinos/Latinas in Corporate America – focusing on their experiences with regard to mentoring, networking, discrimination, fair treatment, psychological contracts, and fairness.

JORGE CHERBOSQUE, PH.D.
Dr. Jorge Cherbosque has been a keynote speaker and a workshop presenter in a myriad of international settings on a wide variety of compelling themes relating to the workplace, diversity issues, and marriage/family. He is a clinical and industrial psychologist whose vision and philosophy is oriented toward helping individuals and organizations move from what he calls “TGIF” (Thank God It’s Friday) to “TGIH” (Thank God I’m Here). Dr. Jorge Cherbosque was born and raised in Mexico and lived and traveled in different parts of the world until he settled in the United States almost 30 years ago. He received both his Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Psychology from the University of Southern California (USC) and has directed the UCLA Staff and Faculty Consultation and Counseling Center for the past 20 years. His passion lies in helping his clients re-encounter their unicability – which is where their passions and talents merge. A highly interactive and engaging speaker, Dr. Cherbosque’s approach to training is geared toward four different but interrelated goals: seminar attendees will receive at least one practical idea that they can apply to their family and home life; one practical idea that they can apply to their work life; and one practical idea for their self-development. The fourth goal is to create an environment of safety and joy because he believes that is how real learning best occurs. He is the author of numerous articles published in a broad range of scholarly journals, the coauthor of “Emotional Intelligence for Managing Results in a Diverse World: The Hard Truth about Soft Skills in the Workplace” and a four-workbook series on “Emotional Intelligence and Diversity.”

IRIS FIRSTENBERG, Ph.D.
Iris Firstenberg specializes in strategies for creative problem solving and innovative thinking. An Adjunct Professor, she teaches in the UCLA Anderson MBA programs, UCLA Anderson Executive Education programs, and the UCLA Department of Psychology. In addition, she conducts custom on-site courses and seminars for organizations on the topics of creativity and innovation. Her sessions provide exciting, thought-provoking, and practical strategies to help turn creative ideas into innovative business solutions. She is a master story teller. Dr. Firstenberg is the recipient of the 2002 UCLA Department of Psychology Faculty Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2011 UCLA Extension Distinguished Teaching Award.

GLEN HOWARD
Glen Howard is a Sr. Organizational Effectiveness Development Consultant and Executive Coach focused on high potential and diverse talent development. He holds a Masters of Science in psychology with a focus on leadership and coaching, a Masters of Divinity, BS in Psychology, and is a Certified Professional Co-Active Coach. Glen is committed to cultural learning through extensive travel.

JANE HYUN
Jane Hyun is a global leadership strategist and trusted coach for Fortune 500 companies. She is the author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling, co-author of Flex: the New Playbook for Managing Across Differences. She served as research director for The Conference Board study: Cultural Fluency / How Culture Impacts Leadership Talent in China. Jane holds a degree in Economics / International Studies.

JAMES C. JONES
James Jones launched a wide range of diversity, team building, mentoring and other multicultural programs for the National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME). Jim spent the decade prior to NACME as a human resources executive and diversity practitioner in the corporate, government, educational, and not-for-profit sectors. Jim received his B.A. from Harvard in English Literature, and then attended New York’s Juilliard School and the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, focusing on operatic performance. He eventually was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to France, and spent four years studying and performing in European concert and opera venues. After much “soul-searching,” he eventually returned to the U.S. and attended the Columbia Business School, where he received an M.B.A. in strategic human resources.

JOHN E. KOBARA
For more than thirty-five years, John has been leading and managing diverse and complex non-profit and for-profit organizations. He is responsible for all of the development, marketing, administrative, grant making, civic engagement, and donor-relations functions for L.A.’s largest foundation, the California Community Foundation (CCF), with more than $1 billion in assets. CCF specializes in assisting high-net-worth families, individuals, corporations and non-profits to pursue their philanthropic visions. John has been involved in education, social justice, and philanthropy for most of his life, and has held leadership positions at a wide variety of regional, national, and international non-profit organizations in the arts, education, and philanthropy. John currently serves on the boards of the Japanese American National Museum and Walden University. John received the 2011 Trailblazer Award from the US Pan Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce, Southern California’s Crystal Eagle award in 2010, and the City of Angels award in 2007. John’s degrees are from UCLA, USC and Occidental College. John talks provide an Executive Perspective on career and life development, pursuit of passion, multiculturalism, mentoring and networking.

MARTHA MILLER, PH.D.
Martha Miller became interested in cross-cultural communication while being tossed on a blanket by Eskimos at the age of three. As part of an Air Force family she traveled extensively and in later years incorporated the exposure to many different cultures into a unique set of skills and competencies. As a management consultant, she has worked extensively on projects focusing on managing diversity, creating effective work teams, and cross- cultural communication. She was asked by NASA to advise them on cross cultural dynamics affecting optimal crew selection for the International Space Station. Dr. Miller received her undergraduate degree Phi Beta Kappa from Indiana University. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University. A Danforth Fellow, she was selected as the representative to the Aspen Institute’s Executive Seminar. In addition to her experience with large-scale organizational change efforts and executive education programs, Dr. Miller taught for seven years at Yale’s School of Organization and Management, where she rose from Assistant Professor to Associate Dean. She created courses on organizational design and cross-cultural communication. An editor of the Journal of Small Group Research, she has published articles in a variety of professional books and journals. For five years, Dr. Miller was Associate Dean for MBA Programs at UCLA’s Graduate School of Management. In 1992, she moved to Washington, D.C. where she works as a consultant on leadership and cross-cultural management.

JEFFREY ROBINSON, PH.D.
Professor Robinson is a tenured Professor and Director of the Rutgers Business School’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development. He is the recipient of the 2007 Faculty Pioneer Rising Star award from the Aspen Institute for his research, teaching and service activities at the intersection of business and society. His research projects cover the areas of entrepreneurial leadership, high growth African American women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship for social change, economic development and social networks. JR is a 3rd generation entrepreneur who has co-founded ventures in the corporate training and education sectors and has advised hundreds of companies as the one of the most popular professors of entrepreneurship in the country. He most recently created a new organic beauty store and day spa concept with his wife based in New Jersey. JR earned his Ph.D. and MA (Philosophy) at Columbia Business School, Masters in Engineering at Ga. Tech, and Bachelors degrees in Engineering and Urban Planning at Rutgers. He is the co-author of Black Faces in White Places. His session on Power and Leadership is always a hit in programs.

CHARLENE M. SIEG
Char is certified in the Birkman Method, the Work of Byron Katie, and Grief Counseling (through the American Academy of Grief Counseling) for individuals and groups. She earned her BA in Secondary Art Education in Denver, CO. Thereafter she pursued extensive training in Psychology, Spirituality and Mind-Body Awareness, including hospice training at the San Francisco Zen Buddhist hospice society, Citrus Valley Hospice, and Serenity Hospice in Palm Springs. She was Managing Editor and Art Director at the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles for their publication Psychological Perspectives, as well as Public Programs coordinator. Char is a native of the Black Hills of South Dakota. She is a photographer and particularly skilled at coaching people to claim and process their feelings about change and re-claiming their entire, creative selves. She herself delights in deepening her spiritual and creative life — tending her garden, writing poetry and doing artwork.